'Punitive And Vindictive': Tommy Tuberville Confronts Marine General Who Blamed Pilot For F-35 Crash

Forbes Breaking News

During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last month, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) asked Navy leadership about an F-35 crash in 2023.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Senator Tuberville.

00:05Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:07Just a quick statement, Secretary of Feeling.

00:10Everything we read, obviously, is China's using AI on almost everything that they do.

00:16They can build a bridge, and in three months it takes us three years.

00:19I'm sure she'll build it as part of that.

00:21In your travels, hopefully we're getting into that.

00:25I don't know how far and how impressed you have been with that.

00:30Any thoughts?

00:33So, Senator, thanks for that.

00:36We're slowly adapting and getting there.

00:40I think that there's more that we need to do, and we're focused in the public shipyards trying to get that done.

00:46I saw at Finkateria, actually, they have these 3D goggles where you can actually look at where they're welding

00:53and how it matches up versus the blueprint to make sure that they're not off

00:58because the precision of this manufacturing is incredibly intense.

01:03I mean, these are very complicated things.

01:05So we're getting there, and I think implementing AI, even just basically digital twinning of projects,

01:11there are a number of things we have to do to get in and done that I think will speed up construction, make design faster.

01:20We spend way too much time in requirements and design.

01:24This needs to move much, much quicker.

01:26So streamlining that, I think, will be helpful as well, including that.

01:30Just what I read, it looks like we're just falling farther and farther behind, you know, the Chinese,

01:34and we can't deal with that too much.

01:36General Smith, I'd like just to make a statement here and discuss to you about a constituent matter.

01:43Normally, this would be handled in emails and conversations between our staffs,

01:47and after more than seven months of headquarters Marine Corps being evasive and unresponsive to my questions,

01:54here we are.

01:54A little over two years ago, we had an F-35 crash in Charleston, South Carolina.

02:01The pilot, an Alabama constituent who entered service from my state,

02:05had been selected for a very important command and was in the process of converting from another aircraft

02:10and staying current for his new job.

02:12This mishap got a lot of attention because the pilot ejected the aircraft,

02:17continuing to fly for an extended period of time before it eventually hit the ground.

02:20Of course, there was no way for the pilot to know that this would happen.

02:24If he had, he would have remained in the aircraft.

02:27What the pilot knew at the time was that the weather was bad,

02:30he had no visual reference with the ground,

02:31and his primary and sector instruments had completely failed.

02:35Disoriented by the cascading failures and loaded the ground, he ejected.

02:39The Marine Corps did what it always does.

02:42In these mishap situations, they had three investigations.

02:45One command investigation determined the mishap was in the line of duty,

02:50and the pilot had committed any misconduct.

02:52It found no misconduct.

02:54A field flight performance board that focuses on pilot actions and abilities

02:58and the safety investigation that is meant to determine the truth of the incident

03:02and provide a way forward and lessons learned to prevent future occurrences.

03:07All three investigations were completed February 2024.

03:10You know, this investigation and their summaries were routed to headquarters Marine Corps

03:16where it was determined that the pilot had acted appropriately

03:19and should continue his career.

03:22The pilot and his family were moved across country to Yuma, Arizona,

03:25and he took command in late June 2024, a year ago.

03:30General Smith, that July, you visited the squadron,

03:33and while speaking with the pilot in his office,

03:36you asked him what his future plans were, stating,

03:39we put you here for a reason,

03:41and the Marine Corps isn't done with you after this command.

03:44Then a month later, in August 2024,

03:46a redacted version of the command investigation

03:48was being prepared for public release.

03:51During that process, you apparently became familiar with this mishap

03:54for the first time,

03:55and without reviewing the other two investigations,

03:57directed that the VMX-1CO be relieved.

04:02It is important to emphasize that all information on this mishap

04:07and the investigation had been available to headquarters Marine Corps

04:10for more than eight months by this point,

04:13and it was also available when this family was moved across the country.

04:16During the video call relieving him,

04:19this Marine was told by the deputy commandant for aviation

04:22that you've done nothing wrong.

04:24You're doing a great job,

04:25but that the commandant had decided you could not stay in command.

04:30I wonder what the reasons were for this erratic and hasty decision.

04:35The officer who conducted the command investigation

04:37inappropriately offered his opinion.

04:40That mishap was caused by pilot error.

04:43Of course it was incorrect.

04:44The mishap was caused by a never-before-seen series of failures.

04:48This erroneous opinion is what you justified breaking faith

04:52for this decorated combat vet for more than 33 years of combat service

04:56because you never reviewed, obviously, the other investigation in detail,

05:00maybe at all.

05:01You don't know that you didn't know or tell the different story of things that was said.

05:06Due to this unique circumstance of mishap,

05:08the board believes the pilot was justified in his decision to eject.

05:13Recovery from the previously described flight regime

05:16is not trained in the F-35 syllabus,

05:18and the FFPB believes that the predominance of naval aviators

05:23with similar experience of the F-35B would have made the same decision.

05:27This treatment of this pilot, to me, feels punitive and vindictive.

05:31There was no attempt by the Marine Corps to take care of this Marine or his family

05:35despite his excellent performance as CO

05:37and the abundance of misconduct of any kind.

05:41This family was denied a change-of-command ceremony,

05:44even after the committee's professional staff requested you evaluate this decision.

05:48General Smith, I would like you to get answers to this question.

05:51I've been asking since October.

05:53I prefer it to happen through normal means instead of a hearing,

05:57but I am chairman of the committee's subcommittee on personnel,

06:00and we can arrange that.

06:02But to Trey and Jess Del Pizzo and their family,

06:05thank you for your many years of service and sacrifice to this great nation.

06:09I think you deserve much better here.

06:12There is no excuse to treat a Marine and his family this way,

06:16so I look forward to hearing from you.

06:18General Smith, thank you.

Category

Transcript

Recommended